Hunter Killer by T. Mark McCurley

Author:T. Mark McCurley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2015-09-15T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

Keeping Up with the Joneses

Colonel Michael McKinney sat at the head of the long conference table, his squadron commanders arrayed on each side. A “Commander’s Comments” slide was displayed on the screen across the room.

As commander of the 57th Operations Group at Nellis Air Force Base, he held weekly staff meetings for all his commanders and senior officers. As the group’s chief of standards and evaluation, or chief pilot, I was invited to the briefing to consult on training or certification issues. For the most part, the meetings were boring. Commanders complained about manning levels as their squadrons expanded missions. I complained about eroding flight standards in the face of such an aggressive expansion. McKinney did his best to balance the needs of the Air Force with the needs of his men. It really was no more interesting than a staff meeting at any corporation in America.

I was seated along the wall taking notes when McKinney brought up the “Commander’s Comments” slide, usually the last slide in the brief. It was his time to talk about any issues he had or to give us guidance. It was part pep talk and part issuing his instructions.

“The Marine Corps gave me a call yesterday,” he said.

My heart stopped. I knew where this was going.

“Seems they need a Predator crew,” McKinney said. “Apparently, they want them for an operation they are planning.”

“When do they deploy?” asked Chainsaw, the 3rd Special Operations Squadron commander. His squadron was now separate from the 15th and operating in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

“Right away,” McKinney said. “The Marines understand we will have some pre-deployment training requirements. Poll your people for volunteers.”

Then McKinney turned and looked right at me, an inquisitive eyebrow raised. There was no doubt what he meant. He said nothing. He didn’t have to.

A few days earlier, I’d approached McKinney about the Air Force’s changes to the promotion system. Increasing combat requirements on the ground in Iraq meant longer tours for the Army. By the end of the war, Army units were spending fifteen months overseas. They needed more troops to lower their deployment rates.

In response, the Air Force and Navy started downsizing to free space for the Army to grow. Officers from both services could transfer to the Army, but few did, leaving the services no choice but to start letting officers go. The easiest way to do that was through promotions. Either move up or move out. They changed the rules to make it harder to move up. In order to make rank, everyone needed a combat deployment since 2001.

The change caught a lot of officers by surprise. Most fighter units had never rotated overseas, leaving hundreds of pilots vulnerable. Likewise, those in the training command had no opportunities to deploy. It also affected nearly every officer in Predator. We had only a small cadre of pilots and sensor operators deploying to theater to launch and land the aircraft. Predator pilots never took off or landed the aircraft from the United States. We took over control in midflight.

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